The Paradise of Parenthos is a gargantuan, cultured nation, notable for its anti-smoking policies, ban on automobiles, and labour-free parental leave. The compassionate, democratic population of 15.931 billion Parenthians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of North Pole. The average income tax rate is 93.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Parenthosian economy, worth a remarkable 2,269 trillion Candy Canes a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Information Technology. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 142,477 Candy Canes, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

People who have lived their entire lives in Parenthos are shocked to discover that they are not citizens, towns that stop turning a profit are turned into animal sanctuaries, ratings for sitcom reruns are often much higher than election debates, and a state-funded project is investigating whether the moon is made of cheese. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, despite the fact that it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many laws. Parenthos's national animal is the Reindeer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Parenthos is ranked 296,875^th in the world and 4,817^th in the South Pacific for Largest Furniture Restoration Industry, scoring -8.12 on the Spitz-Pollish Productivity Index.